PK Flight Attendant With Passport-Stuffed Underpants Jailed

Open Jaw

26.05.15

A veteran flight attendant
for Pakistan International Airlines has been sentenced to 5 years in prison
after being caught with 26 counterfeit passports and other identity documents
concealed in his customized underpants.

An investigation and
underwear search revealed that Cheema was carrying more than 70 counterfeit
documents, in various names, concealed in compartments sewn into the garment,
the Guardian reported.

While the 26 passports and 37
passport biodata pages appeared at first glance to be genuine, all were found
to be fakes.U.K. border staff also found 13 drivers’ licences in his underwear.
And as eGlobal
Travel Media cheekily puts it: “The underpants were taken down in
evidence.”

After Cheema was sentenced in
Birmingham crown court to 5 years in jail, Britain’s National Crime Agency
issued a statement outlining the severity of the offence, to establish that the
crime was far bigger than the briefs. “The passports and driving licences that
Cheema attempted to smuggle in his pants were intended for people across Europe
and beyond,” Dawn Cartwright, of the NCA’s border policing command, declared.
“Fake documents are a serious concern for law enforcement. Those driving
licences could have ended up in the hands of people who weren’t qualified, or
safe, to drive. And more generally, fake and fraudulently obtained documents
help criminals to avoid law enforcement detection and carry on in their
criminality.”

Cheema, a Pakistani who had
worked for the airline for 40 years, pleaded guilty to possessing false
identity documents with improper intention.

The seizure is believed to be
the biggest passports-in-underpants haul ever made.

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